“And I suspect you’ll be paying that paltry million for a nestblossom that won’t work?”

  Sacha glared at Duke. “Yeah. I will. And we’ll have a clutch and I’ll mate the boy!”

  “Alright. Let’s wager this, Sacha. If his heat ends and he’s still barren, you must repudiate him yourself. You deliver him back to his family and order him branded barren.”

  Sacha gasped sharply. “We don’t brand our Dettes anymore! I refuse… What the hell is wrong with you? This is why the Slang clan lost most of their Dettes!”

  Duke huffed. “So what? You’ll take his heat all by yourself? Find him to be just as barren as we have been saying for years and then just send him back home packing? You know his own Drake father will have him branded barren anyway.”

  No, the miser will just lower Gabriel’s price.

  “I refuse to shame him publicly! If he doesn’t bear, I’ll…I’ll find us another.”

  “Whatever, Sacha. Go be weak somewhere else. You may be a gold, but you have no status.” Duke spat at Sacha’s feet and marched off.

  Sacha stormed from his study. All oak and the lingering scent of good cigars and brandy. Gabriel’s furrowed brow met Sacha’s in the hall. “Nobody asked me what I wanted.”

  Sacha rubbed his temples. “No, we didn’t. Unfortunately, what you want doesn’t enter the situation.”

  Gabriel’s upper lip twitched. “Duke and Constantine not joining me for my heat?”

  “That seems to be the case.”

  Though Gabriel’s expression didn’t change, the scent of fear and anxiety lessened around the Dette. Sacha reached out to touch his soft cheek, peering into soft hazel eyes and long chestnut hair. “I’ll take good care of you, Gabriel.”

  “I’m sure you will, Drake. Just…Just take me to the breeding rooms and get it over with. I’ve likely only got a day before it hits.” Gabriel’s empty eyes swiveled away from him.

  The breeding rooms.

  Their cellar had rooms reinforced and marked to hold an amorous Dette in the heated throes of passion. Sometimes a Dette could go wild in heat, and sometimes another Drake could sneak along and plant his seed. Archaic means of keeping their Dettes locked up made Sacha quiver with disgust. He’d hated bedding Gabriel in those chambers.

  Gabriel was barely seventy years old, still so young and wanton. Sacha entertained him whenever he asked, for multiple sessions. He was insatiable and made Sacha’s heart warm, even when not in heat. His dragon staked its claim and became territorial over the Dette, and sometimes their gentle love turned into harsh sessions of Sacha trying to breed out the stench of the other Drakes that had taken him. As mouthy and opinionated as Gabriel could be in private; he was obedient and submissive when he had to be.

  “No. Come out to my fishing lodge. We’ll go there and nest for your heat. I’ll suck you dry and lick all the places you crave.”

  A generous tent in the front of Gabriel’s pants let Sacha know he appreciated the attention. A boyish thrill went through him with old memories of sniffing after a young Dette too far from their first season. Bedding Gabe in his heat never seemed this lovely or promising.

  And as promised, Sacha obtained a single nestblossom and rode Gabe’s heat for ten perfect days.

  When his scent changed, he and Gabriel hoped beyond all hope they’d done the impossible.

  Chapter Nine

  Gabriel

  March 1997

  Gabriel sat impatiently before Doctor Marc Dior, his cheeks burning. He’d had the best heat of his life with Sacha.

  “I promise you; I’ll give you my mark if you catch my clutch.” Sacha’s promises warmed Gabriel’s ears and healed the pain that he’d suffered in his fifty long years in the breeding circuit. He rubbed his hand over the small bulge of his belly. If he were to lay his blanks, it’d be any day, and he didn’t feel the rising anxiety, just bouts of nausea. He also had a taste for eating powdered eggshells mixed into all his food. An excellent sign.

  The day had started out with such hope, and they waited for Marc to tell him how many eggs he carried, and they held hands until Gabriel had to shift, desperate to hear the news, and their hearts crashed.

  “I’m sorry, Gabriel.” Marc shook his head. “There are two, and they’re very small. I’m sorry but you should pass these any days now. They’re blanks.” Marc pulled his hands from Gabriel’s belly and watched as the small Dette shifted, eyes unfocused and distant. Gabriel held his belly, feeling the shapes within that pressed hot against his fingers. He knew he was gravid. He had to be gravid. Marc had to be wrong.

  Sacha peppered the ride home with soft words, apologizing, promising to speak with Gabriel’s father. Though Gabriel couldn’t give him pups and he’d need to work with another Dette, Sacha assured him he cared for Gabriel.

  A cold hole emptied Gabriel’s chest. If he doesn’t bear…I’ll find us another. Sacha’s words echoed in Gabriel’s mind.

  In the middle of the night, he packed his things. Gabriel had no treasures or fortune, but he had a padded savings account. There was enough to get by for a year or two if he lived like a pauper.

  He’d found a small apartment above a flower shop and moved in quickly. It didn’t have enough room for his dragon to stretch out fully, but…if Gabriel was careful and prepared himself, he could lay his blanks safely.

  But when weeks went by and Gabriel’s belly kept growing, little by little, he almost had hope, and prayed to the gods every night. And every night they answered and gave him another night, another day with the warm presence of the eggs inside him.

  At six weeks, Gabriel shifted uncomfortably on his floor mattress. He moved his furniture and made his dragon comfortable, nestling himself in a pile of blankets. True to instinct, the contractions started in waves, and he stifled his noises and pushed until his two small golden swirled…blanks…lay before him.

  A cavernous nothingness settled in Gabriel’s heart. He stared at the two golden blanks, one with a hint of silver swirled in its shell, the other with a swirl of black. The two small blanks seemed to stare at him mockingly, and whispered voices in his head echoed his failures.

  Barren.

  Worthless.

  Burden.

  Gabriel choked on those thoughts, rocking back and forth until the wee hours of the morning when he wrapped his blanks in a towel and raced outside to toss them into the dumpster. His dragon prickled beneath his skin again, demanding out, roaring with anger, and Gabriel gave into it in that alley and took off, his golden scales reflecting the morning light in such a way to make him barely visible among the clouds.

  Far, far away, the wildlands called to him. The dragon within Gabriel could bury his pain for as long as he needed. Because if Sacha loved him, truly wanted him, he’d have not threatened to send him back to his family if he didn’t bear a clutch. If Sacha really cared…he’d have offered Gabriel a mating coin. If Sacha really loved him, he’d come and find him. Maybe one day when Sacha had pups, he’d come.

  Chapter Ten

  Sacha

  Present Day

  Deep within inland China, they approached the wildland mountains, where their kind could hide in relative safety. Magic protected these lands, but magic also demanded scales from him, and he had to fight his dragon to not shift in the back seat of his cab, destroying a car and thousands of years of secrecy.

  “Right here is fine,” Sacha said in barely accented Cantonese. It had startled the driver at first, but Sacha waved it off as having lived in China for too long.

  The driver politely told Sacha that these forests were cursed, that many people came here to commit suicide, and that those who climbed up the mountain rarely came down.

  “I lost someone up here many years ago, and I either come back with them, or I stay here.” Sacha clutched to his dried nestblossoms hopefully. He climbed from the car and watched the cab leave him there.

  He still remembered Gabriel’s heady smell, sweet flowers, a little spice. Sacha took a deep breath and nearly choked. The air hung thick and cloying with the scent of dozens of dragons in the throes of heat.

  Mate. Sacha’s dragon, relatively subdued, reared his head.

  “Not now, you horny monster,” Sacha snapped.

  Mate! It demanded. Scales rippled Sacha’s arms, and he growled back at it.

  “No! These are wild dragons. You do not mate with wild dragons. Keep your cock to yourself.”

  Gabriel.

  Heat.

  Mate.

  That got his attention. Sacha froze and glanced around cautiously. “You smell Gabriel?”

  Gabriel!

  Mate!

  Take heat.

  “Listen here, you randy bastard. We’re not letting your scales out to frolic just yet. I can’t trust you.”

  Fuck you.

  The dragon snarled territorially within his head, pacing until he surged within Sacha’s mind, sending scales shooting up his arms and twin points of pain as his horns sprouted.

  “Listen here!”

  No listen. Find mate.

  Sacha growled beneath his breath as the dragon surged through the barriers between them once more and sent Sacha writhing on the ground, his clothes splitting as he made a slow and tortuous change into his glorious black-and-gold form, his green eyes glistening from a predator’s skull and the world around him exploded in far more interesting smells and colors.

  The nestblossoms, no! Sacha screamed within his dragon’s mind and Sacha’s dragon snuffled around and plucked the pack up.

  Gold shiny scale. Lots of calm scent, pretty flower, smell good happy. He shuddered his scales, shook his wings free, and flew over the densely packed forest to make his way into the rocky outcrops.

  Bearer! Mine.

  Yes, yes, all yours. Find Gabriel! I’ll never forgive you if you stray to another Dette, you horny lizard. Sacha stomped his foot down on the ground in his mind, making his dragon shake his head.

  Gabriel mate.

  No wild Dettes!

  Bad, no. Not mate.

  At least we’re clear on that. Sacha watched, drawn back in his headspace as his dragon landed and clung to a rocky outcropping, sniffling and snuffling between rocks.

  Weary dragons slithered around in recessions and shaded spots, giving Sacha suspicious glances. A dragon with a presence of mind held a threat to the wild ones, and they avoided him with snarls and threatening rumbles in their chests.

  Chapter Eleven

  Gabriel

  Today was a bad day. The sun rose high in the sky and the cold of the mountain chilled his scales. Gabriel sniffed the air, sensing prey on the wind but also the wildfire of heat running rampant on the mountain. Gabriel sneered.

  Inferior Drakes. Must keep pups safe.

  Gabriel sauntered from his claimed cave and stretched his lithe and sculpted golden body, preening lightly in the afternoon light, letting sunlight warm his scales and glitter off his golden horns.

  A bugling call of a Drake in rut sang out over an outcropping, and Gabriel snuffed with distaste. The Drakes in this area crept about on skinny legs, underfed, had little to no hordes. They got by in states of rut by biting necks and pinning the heat-addled wild dragons into submission. Rarely ever did a clutch happen in the wild lands. If they did, the council made sure someone took the eggs as soon as possible to ensure they lived. Wild dragons made terrible parents.

  The coppery dragon sang his note of pleasure, a Finnish dragon from the looks of it, underweight and flighty. He spread his wings and fanned his scent, making a bleating call and chittering noise in proposition. He presented no coin, offered no food, and disappointed Gabriel on several other levels.

  Insulted, Gabriel turned his head and hissed sharply at the invading Drake, growling back with a guttural chugging noise in the pits of his belly that sent the Drake packing. Gabriel had to protect his pups. A wild Drake would happily kill them if not chased off properly.

  Only one Drake would be worth mating him, one enormous golden Drake with black talons and eyes the same green of grass. He possessed the most treasure, the largest endowments, and the virile musk that drove his dragon wild.

  Only…the dragon didn’t want him. Gabriel couldn’t serve his only purpose.

  In a fit of rage, Gabriel’s dragon decided the Drake that had dared to insult him by propositioning sex with his paltry cock must pay. Gabriel leaped onto an outcropping of rocks and stared down at the snuffling Drake with his dull scales and weak wings.

  Gabriel dropped with claws drawn and slashed across the Drake’s back, yowling with anger as he went for the pathetic creature’s tail and bit his neck, shaking him until a weak-jawed human crumpled to the ground, taking shaking breaths. Part of the Drake’s horn lay in the dirt at his side and he stared up at Gabriel with wide-set dim blue eyes and tried to hiss, and only managed a childish huff. For added insult, Gabriel lifted a leg and urinated a few sprinkles onto the Drake. With any luck, a more feral Drake would come along and scent the heat on him and worry the Drake a little more.

  Gabriel lifted his chin and stomped, flitting his wings, and flicked his tail sharply before leaping back up the craggy face to slither along the mountainside. There, he’d hunt the fat wild goats that wound their way up the face of their mountain.

  Unworthy.

  Then again, neither was Gabriel, but he’d rather do without rather than take a weak Drake’s cock.

  He refocused himself and spied a goat, a mean-eyed thing with an unintelligent look that could snap into a sharp mind with barely a thought. Many dragons tried to fight the creatures, but Gabriel watched the wild eagles and how they grabbed and tossed the goats down the mountainside. Sure, by the time they came to a stop at the foot of a peak, they were some assembly required; Gabriel only cared that he got protein. He was going to need it to defend himself and his pups these next ten days, lifting his tail and rubbing himself against anything to sate his urgency.

  Gabriel nibbled on the fresh, warm meat of the goat as his mind wandered. A scent on the wind perked his dragon, who sat up with a strip of flesh dangling from his mouth. He nibbled it up and licked his maw.

  Cinnamon.

  Gabriel hadn’t smelled that scent in a while. His dragon perked up brightly.

  Not Sacha. Gabriel told his dragon.

  Mate.

  No mate! Gabriel shouted to his dragon. He’d had spells like this before, his inner dragon demanding that he act, demanding he mate, find Sacha, anything. He still had that much control as he munched down on the goat and shivered, his scales moving in a twitching ripple down his body. The strike of wings on the breeze alerted Gabriel. Another dragon, with a heavy deer in his jaw, a many-pointed milu with empty, dark eyes and a limp neck, landed before him. He reverently placed the deer before Gabriel and looked up, a vision from the past that made his dragon melt.

  Mate.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sacha

  He lost control of his body as the ferret-like form of him snaked between trees and pawed at the earth, sniffing while muttering.

  Feed mate.

  Treasure for mate.

  Breed mate.

  Protect mate.

  A strikingly full-racked deer stood in his path, blinking placidly, and Sacha all but covered his eyes within his dragon’s mind as his baser self took down the creature and snapped its neck with a solid jerk.

  Oh, good gods, beast! Why did you kill the deer? Sacha whined to his dragon. He wasn’t even hungry!

  Feed mate.

  He gathered the deer in his claws and took off, awkwardly flying as he swooped low in lazy circles that grew smaller and smaller until he found a clearing near rocky outcroppings. The whistling of caves in the area met Sacha’s ears as the deer in his grasp spasmed.

  Not here. His dragon dropped the deer and snuffled around in circles, putting his nose to the ground as he traced a trail of steps off the edge. Sacha’s dragon gathered his pride once more and growled, taking off further down the mountain, following a scent past a rather poorly looking Drake who cringed under Sacha’s full stare.

  He smelled strongly of a Dette close to heat, and the scent made his dragon wild for a moment until the cowering Drake bleated surrender.

  Not mate! Touched mate! Smells like mate!

  Sacha groaned as he bristled over the cowering Drake and sniffed him from neck to hindquarters.

  I submit. The sickly Drake thought through Sacha’s mind. He didn’t smell of sex. He smelled of a weak rut and the marking piss of a Dette close to heat.

  Oh gods, really? Sacha groaned as his dragon lifted his leg and marked the Drake, too, hissing at him before slithering on. It satisfied his baser instincts to cover up the Dette’s heated urine on him, to mark that scent with his own, even if he aimed it at a Drake.

  Unworthy.

  Sacha’s dragon snapped up his deer and flew, sniffing the complex odor of rich flowers, foreign spice, a hint of spearmint. It drew him in, all laced with the heady sweet allure of heat.

  Monster, behave! Sacha demanded. His dragon would do no such thing.

  He landed in a clearing, the scent of blood thick in the air. A golden dragon glanced up, eyes feral and slitted, complex blue-hazel things that focused in on him as he placed the deer down between them proudly. Sacha preened and cooed softly before flitting out his wings and putting on a display with the breadth of them and a trill, wafting his Drake scent.

  The dragon, clearly a Dette, stepped forward, his frame lithe and slender. His face and neck trailed with blood, as did his claws. He sniffed the offering suspiciously, dipping his eyes.

  Gabriel! Sacha bleated out in his mind, trying to reach the Dette but couldn’t. Gods, you found him. Thank you, beast! Thank you! He thanked his dragon as he continued to preen and strut, flitting his wings in silly patterns.